This article was written by Frederick Neil, vice president of strategic marketing at CDW Corp.

Direct is the foundation on which CDW Corp. was created more than 20 years ago. And it is a significant factor in how we’ve grown to No. 343 on the Fortune 500 — we generated $6.3 billion in revenues in 2005 — by offering technology solutions to businesses, government and education.

We communicate with customers through a variety of channels — direct mail, e-mail, Web site and personal account managers. As such, we need to be sure we tell the same story through each channel. To do that, we have an integrated message map that takes all of our corporate messaging and then cascades it down across the different channels and media we use in our contact strategy. Our message maps focus on the key points of differentiation for CDW in the marketplace, and make sure our messaging is leveraging these points.

This is a corporate imperative — the message elements must be in everything we communicate — but then, depending on what the offer is, we drill down into specific, category messages. As an example, the voicing for a piece aimed at small business is different than one for large business. The same is true if we’re communicating to a purchasing manager or a CIO or if it’s a public sector business versus a corporate enterprise business.

We position ourselves as the authoritative source in the industry in our communications, insuring our customers and prospects alike know each and every customer has a dedicated account manager and support team to meet their needs: That we’re here to provide our customers with the technology solutions they’re looking for.